This is an edited version of an article by Trevor Quinn of Cork SIPTU, first published in An Phoblacht, November 2011 Free article

The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) introduced by the British government in late 1914 gave the Dublin Castle authorities widespread draconian powers for Ireland. Free article

In July 1921 Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ireland Nevil Maready led the British Army delegation into Dublin’s Mansion House to meet the representatives of the Irish Republican Army to arrange a Truce between the two forces. Free article

The first week of June 1921 saw the last of the 24 prison executions of IRA prisoners by the British regime during the Tan war, which had begun with Kevin Barry on 1 November.

As the number of trials by British military courts increased in the first half of 1921 so also did the number of death sentences. On 4 and 7 June the last three executions were carried out, just a month... Free article

The burning of the Custom House in Dublin on 25 May 1921 was one of the largest operations ever carried out by the IRA. It struck at the centre of British administration in Ireland as the building housed nine separate government departments including tax and local government records. The operation fully achieved its objective, though at a heavy cost to the IRA, and its consequences are still debated today. Free article

100 years ago this week the election to the new ‘Northern Ireland’ Parliament marked the beginning of the Orange state Free article

One hundred years ago this week the British regime carried out further executions of Irish Republican prisoners in Dublin and Cork. As the war intensified under martial law more and more prisoners were being tried by British military courts which handed down death sentences. Free article

Book review: ‘The Irish Munitions Embargo of 1920’ by Peter Rigney, Umiskin Press, Dublin. Free article

Martin McGuinness once said that the deaths of the ten hunger strikers in 1981 was “our 1916”. The impact of the hunger strike was so profound that he was comparing it to the epoch-making events of the 1916 Rising and the executions of the 16 leaders. Free article

While Tom Barry and the IRA’s West Cork Flying Column are best known for the Kilmichael ambush in November 1920, the Column’s success at the battle of Crossbarry in March 1921 was at least as important, as the IRA outwitted and outfought a British force more than ten times its size. Free article

100 years ago the British regime executed six IRA Volunteers in Mountjoy Jail, Dublin.  They were hanged on the morning of 14 March as tens of thousands of people, including their families, gathered outside the prison and as hundreds of thousands of workers staged a half-day general strike in protest.  Free article

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the Selton Hill ambush - a significant engagement in the Tan War and a tragic chapter in the story of Co. Leitrim and the struggle for Irish freedom.

On Friday, 11th March 1921, the IRA’s Leitrim No. 2 Flying Column was ambushed by British forces at Selton Hill, which lies on the road between Mohill and Ballinamore.

Six officers of the... Free article

In March 1921 the City and County of Limerick were under martial law. In the City a strict nightly curfew was enforced by the RIC, the Black & Tans, the Auxiliaries and the British Army. People left their homes at their peril. And for Republicans their homes were not safe, especially on the night of 6th and 7th March when a British murder gang stalked the streets. Free article

One hundred years ago, the spring of 1921 saw an escalation of the war in Ireland as the British regime carried out widespread ‘reprisal’ attacks on civilians and used military courts to sentence prisoners to death. Free article

Book review ‘Rebel Aghada 1798-1923 - the Untold Story of an East Cork Parish’ by Billy Fitzpatrick. Free article